"Are you still at Utopia?"
Sterling sent a message to Harry the moment he left the headmaster's office.
This set of alchemical communication devices was truly the most practical thing he'd created so far. Without them, he'd have to visit Ravenclaw's secret chamber alone.
Going to the Gryffindor common room to find them was impossible. First, who knew if they'd gone elsewhere? Second, Sterling hated troubling people he wasn't particularly familiar with.
"Still here. Ron and I are practising Transfiguration. Ron's already poked three beetles to death."
Beetles? Transfiguration using living materials as subjects didn't seem to be covered in current coursework, did it?
"The last Transfiguration class should have been about turning big things into small things. I remember wood blocks to buttons?"
"That's right, but we both felt we should challenge higher difficulty material, so we're trying to turn beetles into silver needles. Ron! Why did you start a fire?! Are you copying Seamus? Aguamenti!"
Communication cut off. Sterling felt a headache coming on.
They wouldn't have burnt down Utopia, would they? With Harry's current magical accomplishments, surely not. Surely not.
Though thinking this, Sterling's pace toward Utopia suddenly increased considerably.
When Sterling arrived breathless and opened the portrait's hidden door, he was greeted by Harry and Ron casting "Reparo" everywhere with frantic determination.
Sterling sighed in relief. It seemed he should have more faith in them. After all, first year was nearly over.
"You're too slow like this. And Ron, even Hermione wouldn't notice some black marks on table legs."
After seeing their Reparo targets becoming increasingly obscure, Sterling had to stop them. He felt the two were somehow secretly competing during this process.
"Ah, Sterling, you're back. What did you want us for just now? More lessons, perhaps?"
Harry wiped sweat from his forehead, looking at Sterling with hopeful expectation.
"Generally, I advocate for balancing work and rest. Come on, I'll show you what the 'Room of Requirement' is."
"You asked Professor Dumbledore!" Ron rushed over eagerly. "Does the Room of Requirement really have unlimited food?"
"I think that's fabricated. Think about it, food can't be created with Transfiguration, so what magic could the Room of Requirement use to violate this principle?"
Sterling led them toward the tapestry while shaking his head. He knew magic power transformation could create food, but the present world didn't have this technology, right?
No wait, Lady Ravenclaw had obviously been to Avalon. Maybe she really knew this trick?
Before Sterling could figure it out, the tapestry of a troll clubbing a wizard appeared before them.
"This is it. Professor Dumbledore said to hold strong will for 'wanting a certain kind of room' while walking past it three times, then a door will open there."
Sterling pointed to the wall opposite the tapestry.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ron cheered and immediately pulled Harry back and forth three times, then stared expectantly at the smooth wall. One minute, two minutes, nothing happened.
"What were you thinking?" Sterling couldn't stand it anymore. "Harry, what were you thinking about?"
"I wanted a room full of Nimbus 2000s!"
"I wanted a room to help me practise magic!"
"See, you two wanted completely different rooms. There's only one Room of Requirement. Should it divide itself into two rooms for you?"
"Also, Ron, if the Room of Requirement could really conjure up a room full of Nimbus 2000s, it wouldn't be our turn to discover it. Professor McGonagall would have sealed this place long ago to produce Galleons for Hogwarts funding."
In Sterling's view, Harry's wish was quite appropriate, while Ron's felt like he might as well directly want a room piled with Galleons.
"Hahaha, right..." Ron laughed sheepishly and lowered his head.
"Harry, try again."
Harry walked back and forth three times. This time, a door grew from the wall. Sterling, who'd been waiting by the wall, was first to open it.
"Wow, Room of Requirement indeed."
Inside was a spacious venue, definitely enhanced with Extension Charms. Sterling estimated it was as large as two elementary school basketball courts.
There were also many armour stands and targets inside, possibly for practising magic accuracy.
Strangest was the huge black knight armour in the eastern corner, its entire face hidden by a helmet, kneeling on one knee while holding a great sword. It looked quite intimidating.
Harry happily ran inside with Ron. Ron immediately fancied a small-sized armour and had Harry help him put it on.
"We can have a knight's duel!" Ron suggested enthusiastically.
Harry looked around. "But there don't seem to be any swords in the room?"
"Oh, Harry." Ron stood with hands on hips, never expecting to intellectually dominate Harry for once.
"We're wizards! Transfiguration! We can transfigure two swords!"
Sterling, still outside the door, raised an eyebrow. He'd been about to say the same thing.
Not easy. Hermione's and Terry's teaching was meaningful. Even an iron-blooded Gryffindor like Ron could use his brain flexibly now.
Sterling looked at this door, thinking about what password he should say to direct himself to "Ravenclaw's secret chamber".
According to various legends, Sterling believed this Room of Requirement actually contained many internal spaces, folded and stored in this small location, appearing when desired. Just like the Queen's Black Mirror Kingdom castle.
Ravenclaw's secret chamber was in the Room of Requirement, but the real difficulty lay in finding it among so many spaces.
Directly saying, "I want a room containing Ravenclaw's secret chamber"?
Sterling felt it couldn't be this simple. Otherwise this would spread quickly.
This command was too simple, and the Room of Requirement had no trial-and-error costs. If Ravenclaw's secret chamber's corresponding command were this simple, it would probably already be used by Ravenclaws as a second common room.
Sterling had no doubt that if a night-roaming student accidentally discovered the Room of Requirement's special nature, one thing he'd definitely do was try the Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff chambers in turn.
Within minutes, hitting one would set him up for life.
As for why Slytherin ranked first, Slytherin was the only founder with clear historical records of leaving behind a "chamber".
According to Terry, pureblood aristocratic circles always encouraged their Slytherin children to seek the chamber.
Sterling tried looking and placed his hand on the door frame...
"What is that?"
Something sharp suddenly emerged, quickly pricking Sterling's palm. He hurriedly withdrew his hand.
Looking at the doorframe again, where Sterling had just placed his hand, constantly contracting small thorns formed a seven-pointed star pattern.
Sterling looked at his hand. Such painful sensation, yet no broken skin. The small thorns had no red color, just inexplicable swirling mist.
Then these small thorns all fell off, gathering into a card with elegant handwriting, each "e" written to soar like a flying bird.
"Door knocker, ask away. Lost trail, find answers. Truth opens to you."
Oh well, the next stop was back to the Ravenclaw common room.
Sterling helplessly pocketed the card, now only hoping the doorknocker wouldn't give him another runaround.
Following the compass to find the Room of Requirement, from the Room of Requirement to battle the door knocker... Shouldn't Ravenclaw be efficiency-supremacist cold researchers? How did they also adopt this riddle-loving approach?